Azerbaijan, Baku / Т corr S. Aghayeva / For the first time in the history of mugam (Azerbaijani national music) an unusual magazine dedicated to this art has been issued in Azerbaijan.
The main purpose of the magazine, which was issued by the 'Friends of Azerbaijani Culture' Foundation, is to attract new generations to the study of mugam, as well as to hold serious discussions on the subject. The chief editor of the magazine is the President of the Foundation, the UNESCO and ISESCO Freewill Ambassador, the President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, the First Lady of Azerbaijan, Mehriban Aliyeva.
"While on a trip to this interesting and enthralling world of mugam, it would be wonderful to have discussions with a reader," Mrs. Aliyeva said at a presentation ceremony on 2 July.
According to Aliyeva, the main projects on mugam of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, such as Mugam Irs, Mugam-Encyclopedia, Mugam-Internet, Mugam Centre, and others, will be illustrated on the pages of the magazine.
"Mugam is some macro-world where on the one hand the laws of development are fixed no less neatly than, for instance, in astronomy, and on the other hand the possibilities of improvisation are limitless. That is the peculiarity of mugam which creates serious problems in teaching, writing of textbooks, introduction of musical notation, and so on. We would like to put all those issues at such a level of discussion that we can find an optimal solution," Mrs. Aliyeva noted.
The first issue of the magazine which is published in three languages (Azerbaijani, Russian and English) depicted articles about great Azerbaijani composers and performers of mugam and research works of Azerbaijani musicologist.
